Many years ago I started reading “Alaska” but lost interest fairly quickly. That was a different time and I was a different person then (I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now).
Anyway, I’m wondering what you all think of his novels. Are they generally held in high regard? Is he a good writer?
Which books of his have you read? Any specific recommendations?
Eagerly awaiting Doper input.
Thanks,
mmm
I was a big fan of the Michener novels during my European backpacking trip 30 years ago. They had the advantage of being the same price as other paperback novels if you could find a used or English bookstore, but very long for good value!
If I can recall, I read Texas, Centennial, Alaska, Space, Hawaii, and Chesapeake.
I enjoyed the fake biography style, but couldn’t figure out why he liked to insert elements like “The State of Fremont” in Space.
I’ve read Alaska and Chesapeake. They were entertaining and educational, as well. I hear good things about Centennial and Hawaii and they are on my list. My understanding is that he had researchers gather the historical information and he “fictionalized” it. This doesn’t surprise me since that would be an incredible amount of knowledge for a single person to have.
His novel about an archeology dig in Israel “The Source” is a fascinating read
I read a ton of Michener books. Centennial, Hawaii, and The Source were favorites. Another notable one is his semi autobiographical work The Fires of Spring.
I read and enjoyed a lot of his books, but then came “Alaska”. As an Alaskan, I eagerly awaited the book’s release, but it turned out to be the most boring thing by him that I had read. Endless pages about a salmon migrating is my recollection.
I liked Hawaii, but I gave up on the one set in South Africa. Boring and he never really dove into the characters before they died and their grandchildren were on deck.
My dad served with Michener in the Second World War, on a number of islands in the Pacific.
I was so excited, “Well, Pop, what was he like?”
He shook his head sadly. “None of us ever knew. We’d be eating or playing cards, he’d be over in a corner with his Smith-Corona, typing typing typing… never heard him say a word to anyone else.”
On topic: Love his books, but I soon learned to skip the first chapter(s) where he follows a pebble as it forms the mountains that the book will be set on…
I came to praise The Source. Incredibly moving (especially if you’re Jewish IMHO). I remember sitting in a coffee shop reading and got to the place where one of the important ancient sages and thinkers, Rabbi Akiva, was put to death in 153 CE, and I just burst into tears–it was so sad and poignant. I was right there in the moment.
James Michener has an interesting personal history. He was adopted into a Quaker family and did not know anything about his birth parents or his origins. Maybe that was one of the reasons for his deep, detailed diving into history.
Interesting modern note from Wikipedia: “[In 1968], Michener was a member of the Electoral College, serving as a Pennsylvania Democrat. He wrote about that experience in a political science text Presidential Lottery: The Reckless Gamble in Our Electoral System, which was published the following year. In it, he suggested alternate systems, including using a direct popular vote by majority for the office of President of the United States and other more creative solutions.”
:smack: Dang! Why didn’t we think of that?
Read and greatly enjoyed most of his work. Still have many of his hard covers kicking around and reread them from time to time.
If you are a fan of his writing try some of the novels by the late Kenneth Roberts. Brings history to life “warts and all”!
I loved The Source as well, especially the way it was presented.
An international team of archeologists including a Christian, a Muslim, and a Jew [del]walk into a bar[/del] arrive on the tell and start to dig. The first evening, one of them is taking a stroll at the top of the tell and kicks up a spent bullet from the 1948 war (The book was published before the 1967 war). Amused, he treats it like any other archeological finding, recording its location on a card including a sketch of its appearance, which is shown as an illustration in the book.
Over a period of six months, two trenches are dug into the tell and artifacts are found, each of which has an illustration and they go back further and further in time until the bedrock of the tell is reached. The last object is a flint-bladed sickle at the dawn of agriculture.
Then starting with that sickle each chapter covers the found object covering what was going on at the time and in a few cases, how it came to be there. In each chapter is a vignette in the present day where the three talk about their faith or lack of it).
Adding… the title “the source” refers to the well that is the center of all the settlements that happened in this place through the centuries. The multiple meanings of *source *add to the depth and significance of the stories that took place in this spot. Incredibly moving book…
I’ve read ‘Hawaii’ and gone back to it now and then, very interesting! (yes, it does start with the cooling of the earth and the emergence of the Hawaiian Islands, lol.). Hollywood got a lot of mileage out of ‘Hawaii’ in one form or another. The movie ‘Hawaii’ with Julie Andrews only showed a sliver from the book…James Michener wrote one modern novel - The Drifters? - about druggie hippies travelling around exotic countries, I hated that one. Hoped they would all overdose and drop dead…All those books he wrote, he must have used an ocean of ink!
Tales of the South Pacific
The Fires of Spring *
Return to Paradise *
The Bridges at Toko-ri
Sayonara
Hawaii *
Caravans
The Source *
The Drifters
Centennial *
Chesapeake *
The Watermen
The Covenant *
Space *
Poland
Texas
Legacy
Alaska
Caribbean
Journey
The Novel *
Mexico
Recessional
Miracle in Seville
Matecumbe
Looks like I’ve only read 9 of Michener’s works.
I agree with everyone about The Source. It’s been one of my favorite books since I first read it over 40 years ago.
The others are hit or miss. I really like Hawaii and Journey (a shorter book following one particular historical vignette from his novel Alaska).
I have started both Centennial and Chesapeake but was unable to get through either.
The Covenant.
Speaking as a South African - it was shite, and I have not been motivated to read any other Michener because of it.
His historical excavation novels (the big fat ones) are indeed iffy. I prefer CARAVANS and THE DRIFTERS as more intimate but limited portraits. TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC collects short stories to good effect. Brief writing takes more work than formulaic humongous blockbusters.
I read Centennial when I lived in Colorado, and Chesapeake when I moved to Washington DC. I found them interesting in giving me a sense of the layers of history in each area. I found them less so when Michener brought the stories into the present day.
I might eventually read some of his other books on regions in which I’ve visited or worked, like Caribbean, Hawaii, or Tales of the South Pacific.
My mum was a huge fan, and as a result there were a bunch of Michener books in our house when I was a kid. I read a half-dozen or so when I was in my late teens, and remember enjoying them. I know I read Chesapeake, Centennial, Hawaii, Space, Texas, and Alaska, and I think I liked *Chesapeake *best.
That was all well before I went to grad school and then started teaching college history, and it’s too long ago for me to remember whether or not the historical narrative was any good.
Just out of interest, do you have an opinion about Wilbur Smith’s South Africa books, like When the Lion Feeds and its sequels? I used to love them as a teenager, but I suspect that they have their critics.
I absolutely love them. Poland was probably my favorite, used that for a book report in high school while the other students picked 200 page ghost written athletic biographies. Michener and Clancy used to be my long flight entertainment in the days prior to seat back entertainment.
Amazon has them on Kindle specials fairly often.